Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors
Do minimum wages promote greater equity in pay in a developing country context? This paper seeks to answer this question through employing two difference-in-difference (DID) regression techniques to uncover the gendered impact of South Africa's Sectoral Wage Determinations (‘sectoral minimum wages' he...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
School of Economics
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613332604715008 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Nicklin, Jessica |
| author2 | Bhorat, Haroon |
| author_browse | Bhorat, Haroon Nicklin, Jessica |
| author_facet | Bhorat, Haroon Nicklin, Jessica |
| author_sort | Nicklin, Jessica |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Do minimum wages promote greater equity in pay in a developing country context? This paper seeks to answer this question through employing two difference-in-difference (DID) regression techniques to uncover the gendered impact of South Africa's Sectoral Wage Determinations (‘sectoral minimum wages' hereafter) on real hourly wages over the period 2001-2007 and establish whether these minimum wage laws reduced gender pay gaps among covered workers. The gender-specific effects of minimum wages on employment, hours worked, and written contract coverage are also explored. The sectors analysed are the retail and agricultural sectors both of which employ a fairly equal share of men and women, who are similar across several characteristics. Furthermore, examining these two sectors offers a unique opportunity to investigate whether a more “blanket” minimum wage is better suited to reducing gender pay discrepancies compared to multiple minimum wage schedules determined by various factors. For the agricultural sector, sectoral minimum wages were only set according to area (resulting in 2 minimum wage schedules), while for the retail sector, minimum wages were established according to occupation, hours worked, firm size and area (resulting in a total of 96 minimum wage schedules over the period of analysis). This paper finds that sectoral minimum wages had no significant impact on the employment of men or women in the retail and agricultural sectors. Descriptive results indicate that the gender wage gap marginally increased among retail workers following the implementation of minimum wages. The regression analysis reflects this finding, as men experience greater gains in wages relative to women in areas where the median wage falls further below the minimum wage (i.e., where the minimum wage is more binding). In contrast, the descriptive findings suggest that the gender wage gap reduced significantly among agricultural workers. The regression results mirror these results – one DID specification reveals that women in the agricultural sector reap significant improvements in their wages, while no significant effect is found for men. The other DID specification indicates that both men and women in areas where the minimum wage is more binding experience greater improvements in their wages; however, women experience slightly greater increases. No significant effect is shown for women using this specification. In terms of hours worked, men in the retail sector experience significant improvements in their working hours, whereas women endure significant declines. The opposite holds true for the agricultural sector. The above findings possibly suggest that a more “blanket” minimum wage may contribute to fostering greater gender equity in pay. Conversely, minimum wages set according to factors such as occupation may lead to the exacerbation of gender pay disparities. Nevertheless, there may be other differences between the retail and agricultural sectors that explain the disparities in the impact of sectoral minimum wage laws. While minimum wage violation (both in terms of incidence and depth) appears to be fairly similar among men and women (although slightly higher for women) – non-compliance rates are staggeringly high, especially among agricultural workers. This finding underscores the need for stricter monitoring and enforcement of minimum wages in South Africa. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41854 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:27.383Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | School of Economics |
| publisherStr | School of Economics |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41854 Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors Nicklin, Jessica Bhorat, Haroon Minimum wage South Africa Retail Agricultural sector Do minimum wages promote greater equity in pay in a developing country context? This paper seeks to answer this question through employing two difference-in-difference (DID) regression techniques to uncover the gendered impact of South Africa's Sectoral Wage Determinations (‘sectoral minimum wages' hereafter) on real hourly wages over the period 2001-2007 and establish whether these minimum wage laws reduced gender pay gaps among covered workers. The gender-specific effects of minimum wages on employment, hours worked, and written contract coverage are also explored. The sectors analysed are the retail and agricultural sectors both of which employ a fairly equal share of men and women, who are similar across several characteristics. Furthermore, examining these two sectors offers a unique opportunity to investigate whether a more “blanket” minimum wage is better suited to reducing gender pay discrepancies compared to multiple minimum wage schedules determined by various factors. For the agricultural sector, sectoral minimum wages were only set according to area (resulting in 2 minimum wage schedules), while for the retail sector, minimum wages were established according to occupation, hours worked, firm size and area (resulting in a total of 96 minimum wage schedules over the period of analysis). This paper finds that sectoral minimum wages had no significant impact on the employment of men or women in the retail and agricultural sectors. Descriptive results indicate that the gender wage gap marginally increased among retail workers following the implementation of minimum wages. The regression analysis reflects this finding, as men experience greater gains in wages relative to women in areas where the median wage falls further below the minimum wage (i.e., where the minimum wage is more binding). In contrast, the descriptive findings suggest that the gender wage gap reduced significantly among agricultural workers. The regression results mirror these results – one DID specification reveals that women in the agricultural sector reap significant improvements in their wages, while no significant effect is found for men. The other DID specification indicates that both men and women in areas where the minimum wage is more binding experience greater improvements in their wages; however, women experience slightly greater increases. No significant effect is shown for women using this specification. In terms of hours worked, men in the retail sector experience significant improvements in their working hours, whereas women endure significant declines. The opposite holds true for the agricultural sector. The above findings possibly suggest that a more “blanket” minimum wage may contribute to fostering greater gender equity in pay. Conversely, minimum wages set according to factors such as occupation may lead to the exacerbation of gender pay disparities. Nevertheless, there may be other differences between the retail and agricultural sectors that explain the disparities in the impact of sectoral minimum wage laws. While minimum wage violation (both in terms of incidence and depth) appears to be fairly similar among men and women (although slightly higher for women) – non-compliance rates are staggeringly high, especially among agricultural workers. This finding underscores the need for stricter monitoring and enforcement of minimum wages in South Africa. 2025-09-18T09:59:00Z 2025-09-18T09:59:00Z 2025 2025-09-18T09:53:42Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MCom http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41854 en eng application/pdf School of Economics Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Minimum wage South Africa Retail Agricultural sector Nicklin, Jessica Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors |
| title_full | Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors |
| title_fullStr | Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors |
| title_short | Minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity: the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south Africa's retail and agricultural sectors |
| title_sort | minimum wages as a mechanism for gender pay equity the role of gender in predicting labour market outcomes from the minimum wage in south africa s retail and agricultural sectors |
| topic | Minimum wage South Africa Retail Agricultural sector |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41854 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nicklinjessica minimumwagesasamechanismforgenderpayequitytheroleofgenderinpredictinglabourmarketoutcomesfromtheminimumwageinsouthafricasretailandagriculturalsectors |